NFL Week 13 teaser: Take the points with a pair of short NFC 'dogs
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We returned to winning ways last week, and the extra points were necessary.
Let's keep it going into Week 13.
Lions at Bears, 1 p.m. ET on Dec. 6
Line: Lions +3
Teaser line: Lions +9
Ah, the old we-just-fired-our-coach-and-GM game. Expect quite a response from the Lions here after Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn were relieved of their duties over the weekend. In both previous instances this season of a team firing its head coach, those squads won the next game in convincing fashion, with the 0-4 Texans beating the Jaguars 30-14, and the 0-5 Falcons beating the Vikings 40-23.
The Lions are coming off a pair of brutal losses, but reinforcements are arriving in the form of D'Andre Swift and Danny Amendola after they both missed the last two weeks. This game looks like it will come too soon for Kenny Golladay, though. Still, Detroit's offense can be very effective when mostly healthy, and I expect interim head coach Darrell Bevell - promoted from offensive coordinator - to unleash a few tricks to begin his first head coaching opportunity after nearly 20 NFL seasons.
On the opposite sideline, the Bears' offense is anything but effective, and frustration has reached a boiling point. It's glaringly obvious that head coach Matt Nagy has no faith in Mitch Trubisky, and it'll be interesting to see how the team responds to his comments about lacking "personal pride." Nagy's diatribe encapsulates this club's dysfunction, rather than being a rallying cry that will prompt a late-season surge.
Saints at Falcons, 1 p.m. on Dec. 6
Line: Falcons +3
Teaser line: Falcons +9
Winning is all that matters, and while the Saints have done so convincingly in two games without Drew Brees, their Taysom Hill-led offense is still far too one dimensional. Alvin Kamara simply hasn't been a factor without Brees under center, and the threat of Michael Thomas is mitigated with Hill at the helm.
If the Falcons stop the run-pass option, they'll be successful in this game. That's a lot easier to do with some tape to study. There was nothing for Atlanta to go off when these teams met two weeks ago, with Hill making his first career start.
It's incredibly difficult to beat the same team twice in the NFL in such a short span, which is the situation the Saints face. The Titans, for example, thrashed the Colts in Week 12 just 17 days after the same matchup easily went the other way in Tennessee.
The Falcons have been playing considerably better overall under interim head coach Raheem Morris, and I'm putting the Saints on upset watch Sunday.
Full teaser: Lions +9, Falcons +9 ($110 to win $100)
(Odds source: theScore Bet)
Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.